SCCAPenings

Monday, December 5, 2016

The holiday season brings about a myriad of emotions –
thankfulness, gratitude, a bit of introspection and with it the realization
that it has been a tough year.I love my
job – it feeds my soul and it is such critical work!But there is a difficult side to working in a
non-profit organization, especially one doing anti-poverty work.

The truth is, organizations like SCCAP support the social
infrastructure in a community.But we
are often invisible, operating under the radar.We help low-wage earners afford child care so they can work (imagine if
more than 50% of your $10.00 per hour job went to child care costs – how could
you afford to work?)We weatherize
houses so individuals can afford to heat and cool their houses, saving energy
usage positively impacting the environment.We provide temporary housing in our shelters and case management for
those families so that they can get back on their feet and support themselves
and their children.We provide hard
skill job training and critical soft skill training and emotional and social
supports so that individuals from generational poverty can become productive
workers, breaking the cycle of poverty.We provide nutrition classes, and one on one supports, as well as,
healthy food for families to improve their health and welfare – which saves
health care costs in the short and long run.We provide small scholarships for individuals to get skill training and
certification to help improve their earning potential.We provide free trainings, poverty
simulations and other assistance to the faith community, businesses, social
services, the faith community and education so that they can get better
outcomes from the families we serve.

We provide a hand up and support the local economic and
social infrastructure – strengthening our community.But on aconstant basis we face with budget cuts and the need to do more with
less.Eleven years ago when I first
became the Executive Director of SCCAP, we were serving about 16,000 clients
with a staff of 160, today we serve more than 32,000 with a staff of 106 – and
our funding is almost exactly the same.When I started, I took over our IT support – we had roughly 26 computers
to support and one server.I still
support our IT today but now we have more than 106 computers, 2 servers and 3
websites on top of my normal duties.And
I am not alone.Most of my staff now do
the work of more than one staff person.We are incredibly administratively thin – pushing dollars to fill gaps
in services to clients.We are doing
more with less and stretched so thin that I sometimes wonder how we do what we
do so well (we are a top performer in every program and we have earned PANO’s
Standards of Excellence Accreditation).

Then in June we received news that Utility Assistance
was being moved from community partners to a universal call center –
significantly cutting our emergency services funding which keeps our food
pantries open.Then in October we found
that we received 80% cuts to shelter operation funding (from a request of
$176,000 reduced to $36,000).No
warning.No control over those kind of
cuts – not related to how hard you work or your outcomes – just a change in
direction of a funder.And so we find
ourselves again trying to figure out how to make it work.How to keep critical programs open.How to do more with less.How to keep serving 32,000 clients and keep
106 staff employed.Poverty is not a
SCCAP problem, it is a community problem.Aging, addiction, housing, mental health, children with disabilities are
not problems owned by non-profits – they are community problems.I urge you, during this holiday season, to
find organizations in your local community that impact issues you care about and
support them with your time, funding and talents – we need you!We really need you!And I promise – the feeling you receive from
making a difference in the lives of others is far greater than the feeling you
get from any gift under a tree!

Monday, October 3, 2016

Sonder, n. the realization that each random
passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own (The Dictionary of
Obscure Sorrows.)This word, though only
popular in pop culture, has so much meaning for me.I walk alongside the lives of so many
individuals.I get an inside glimpse of
people going through extreme stress and achieving amazing goals and get the
privilege of traveling that journey with them, of hearing their fears, hopes,
losses and aspirations.

I remember when
my mother died suddenly at 57, I wasn’t ready to let her go and I grieved for a
long time, the loss was so profound.A
close co-worker asked me three months after her passing “when was I going to
get back to normal.”She had never lost
someone close to her.When her own
mother died from cancer years later, she called in that grief-stricken moment
and told me her mother died.The pain in
her voice was palatable, I knew it, I had felt it before.Sonder.

We see people on
TV.We see them acting in ways that are
different than how we would act in a given situation and we make judgments –
we all do it.We forget that their pain,
their sorrow, their hopes, their dreams, how much they love their children,
their significant others – is just as vivid as how we love our own children and
significant others.Their pain, though
potentially expressed differently, is just as real, just as vivid as our
own.If we can understand that, if we
can see the pain, the joy, the life in another, we can let go of some of the
judgment and feel for those around us.This broadens our capacity for compassion and caring.Broadens our desire to see things get better
for others and to look for real sustainable solutions. It helps us understand that
behaviors happen for a reason and until we can reach out to understand the
reason, it is hard for us to achieve real change.

A highly
respected businessman in our community was at a meeting recently and shared
“That others had not had the same opportunity as he had and he wanted to try
and make that possible.”Impressive.In the scope of his
incredibly busy, vivid life, full of his own tremendous joys and sorrows – he
paused and could see that there are others struggling around him and he wants
to make a difference.He chose to see,
and that choice is important.We can, at
any given time, see or turn away, and sometimes because it is too painful,
sometimes because we don’t understand, sometimes because we feel guilt, or
sometimes because our own life demands so much, we turn away, make judgments,
or label those experiences of others as invalid.Just as my coworker asked me when I would “return
to normal” – we discount the experiences of others.But we can choose to see, seek to understand,
and allow ourselves to walk alongside others whose life experiences are
different than our own.

Sonder.Whether in politics, riots in communities, or
refugees fleeing their homes, there is a reason that people behave as they
do.Their experiences and perceptions,
though potentially different than our own, are just as valid, just as colorful,
just as real as our own and they drive our own perceptions, judgments and beliefs.But if we can allow ourselves to see life
through the colorful blue, green, or brown eyes of someone else – seek to
understand the life they live, we can learn so much and be changed for the
better!

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Imagine what your life would be like if you didn’t have a
home to live in.If you were facing
eviction and you didn’t know where you and your children would live.If you thought that where you were living was
just too expensive but when you looked around, the cost of rentals was higher
than you pay now.Imagine if you were
working, often more than one job, and you still couldn’t afford to live in your
community. How would that impact your work, your sense of self, your health, your
children, your future?

I was stunned, at the recent Commissioners Forum on Housing,
by the speakers’ data and viewpoints on the unaffordability of housing.We see it on a daily basis – our shelters are
full of families (most of them working) who can’t afford housing in our community.But hearing it from a business, health,
planning and educational perspective was astounding.The impacts on our community are so
vast.Dr. Amy Dailey, from Gettysburg
College, shared the data and the correlation between housing and depression,
stress and other health issues.Suzanne
Christianson, a local realtor, shared the difficulties of finding housing for
low wage families and seniors on a fixed income.Rob Thaeler, Principal Planner for Adams
County shared the facts about housing in our local community and how most of
the housing developed here draws from those moving into our area and working
outside of the county - with most houses being built costing above $250,000.

Dr. Chris Echterling from Wellspan Health (also Physician of
the Year in Pennsylvania for 2016) shared stories about how housing
significantly impacts a family’s ability to be healthy and the new data on
addiction and recovery and their strong ties to housing, as well as, the cost
of providing housing compared to providing shelter space, mental health units
and health care - it was so compelling.

Robin Fitzpatrick shared data relating to business and how
local HR reps said that families earning under $50,000 per year can’t afford
housing (and many earning under $80,000 can’t either) and the impact on their
businesses.When she shared that
individuals working in family/social services just earn enough to cover the
costs for a one-person family, that was bad enough, but she went on to share
that those in the service industry - who support our tourism economy don’t earn
enough to even support a family of one – I couldn’t help but think of how big
this problem is.

But most of all, the stories shared by Kelly DeWees, from
Gettysburg School District, about the more than 128 homeless children the
district serves and the story of a family renting a U-Haul trailer by the week
so that their kids could sleep in a shelter that was cheaper than housing in
the community, I was heartbroken.

This isn’t a social services problem!And if you mistakenly think the social
services world has it covered, you are so very wrong.There are nearly no resources to help –
governmental or otherwise.And this
isn’t a people making the wrong choices problem – it is a matter of
numbers.We live in a community fueled
by agriculture and tourism – traditionally low wage jobs- but we live in a college town that is a
bedroom community to Baltimore and Washington.A beautiful community in a state that offers tax advantages for those
retiring here.Those factors push up the
cost of living – which wouldn’t be a problem if we had wages that enabled
people who work in our community to afford to live here – but for many, that
just isn’t the case.Poverty in our
community is working families who earn low wages (often from more than one job)
and seniors on a fixed income.If you
work in Adams County, you may well be struggling to live in Adams County.We have to fix this!We, as a community, have to change this.

Friday, July 17, 2015

A dear friend of mine had come across the country to
Harrisburg for work.We hadn’t seen each
other for more than two years and I was really anxious to see her.Our last time together had been when her
husband was very ill; he’d had terminal cancer. And I wanted to see her, to see
that she was as okay as could be in this circumstance.We’d talked many times over the course of the
two years, and I had tried to be as supportive as I could from so far
away, but the truth is, aside from being
present, caring, and empathetic; there just isn’t much you can do to ease
someone’s grief.It is so raw, so real
and certainly this lovely couple didn’t deserve this, my friend didn’t deserve
this.

It was so good to see her; we had dinner and talked for
hours.Processing life experiences we
both have had, sharing tears and laughter.In part of our discussions, she said “You know I didn’t choose this
journey, but at some point I had to decide that since I am on this journey, I
am going to be an inquisitive tourist – I am going to learn what I can, I am
going to make some value come out of it.” She shared some of what she learned
about herself, her husband, life, and how her perspectives have changed.I haven’t stopped thinking about that since
we talked.She is a brilliant,
insightful woman.And this change in
perspective didn’t change the pain – the suffering, or the loss.But it allowed her, during this horrendous experience, to allow herself
to change, to see things differently.She is still herself and yet totally different.I know that sounds like a contradiction, but the depth of her life has changed.She is still sad, and still, of course, bears
the present marks of grief, but in some ways she is even more comfortable in
her own skin – she owns the experience, not running from it, but enduring and
going through it.

Kahlil
Gibran said "Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most
massive characters are seared with scars." Life is full of experiences
good and bad, difficult and gratifying.Each experience provides an opportunity to change our trajectory, our
perspectives, to help us become more authentic and open us up to more.There is so much to learn, so much to
experience, both good and bad.And we,
or at least I, can try and pull away from the painful experiences as if I can
“work” my way through them instead of experiencing them, instead of experiencing
life.Not only are we trying to avoid
the unavoidable, but we waste energy fighting the wrong stuff.We can become judgmental of others, not
understanding that they are on an equally valid journey, full of difficulties
and joys.We might see our own
experiences as the only right path. But life is an unpredictable journey, full
of opportunities to see differently, to grow, to become more of ourselves,
deeper, richer, more authentic.

I think
about her words frequently, trying to be an inquisitive tourist on my own
journey, enjoying the cultures and experiences around me, learning to endure
and go through difficulties instead of avoiding them, and appreciating those
precious people who have helped me grow and learn more about myself through the
process. And just as important, to me at
least, is joining others on their journey, supporting them when appropriate,
and walking beside them when they just need someone to be present, valuing and
respecting their journey, their life, their goals.Change and pain are unavoidable but we can be changed for the better if we allow it and see it all as part of the glorious journey we are on. Bearing scars but growing stronger.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

We had a national
speaker, Jodi Pfarr, come do training for our staff on Living in a Diverse World.I
had heard some of it at a conference but the whole training was incredibly
impactful.

We took some time to
really look at dominant cultures, where we each fit, and how we tend to
normalize that context.But the way she
did it was so concrete and tangible.We
had a diagram of 12 pairs of triangles (one of each pairs was right side up and
blue while the other was upside down and red).We identified 12 situations where policy or systems were geared toward
the dominant culture (like being right handed versus left handed, middle class
versus poverty, etc…).When we were done
identifying the 12 situations, we each circled, on our own papers, where we
were part of the dominant culture and where we were not.It helped us have a context for our
discussions for the rest of the day.

It was a great day and
a number of staff told me it was the best training they ever attended.They want to put red and blue triangles on
their computers to remind them that others may see things from a different
perspective and that it is a valid perspective.

I was talking to Jodi
afterwards and she said something that was so profound to me.She said when you are part of the dominant
culture you get it academically, you can know it – but when you are part of the
non-dominant culture you feel it
because you are experiencing it.This is
not new information and really it’s pretty obvious – experience speaks louder
in our heads and hearts than knowledge, but hearing it in this context, around
cultural norms, really made me think.

Someone I care deeply
about was dealing with mental health issues.They were feeling particularly vulnerable and couldn’t reach a family
member so they called crisis – exactly as they were supposed to do.Four state police cars showed up at their
house and took them in handcuffs to the hospital even though they were not at
all violent and were going completely voluntarily – it is standard
protocol.I met them there and we were
taken to an empty room – just a mattress on the floor.I sat, in my dress, on the floor beside them
– not wanting them to feel like everyone who was interacting with them was
looking down on them.I serve on a
health systems board so I know those processes exist to keep staff and the
individual safe.But I cannot put into
words what experiencing it felt like.And as much as I felt it, I can’t even imagine how difficult it was for
the individual I was with.Voiceless.Vulnerable.Feeling the full weight of the
experience.

We can know about the
complexities, the difficulties that come from feeling like you have little or
no voice, but that is far different than feeling voiceless.Obvious, I know – but so many truths are that
way, simple and overlooked.As Marcel
Proust said “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new
landscapes, but in having new eyes”.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Steven Covey has a
quote I love “Strength lies in
differences, not in similarities.” I’m a quote person – well actually maybe more precisely, I am a person who
loves to understand the experiences of others, and I feel like quotes provide a
glimpse into a piece of the soul of another.The word “sonder” is the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and
complex as your own – how profound and amazing.My daughter and I frequently ponder that as we sit at a café or walk
down the street.People all around us
have profound stories and experiences – just as poignant and meaningful,
wonderful and difficult, as our own experiences.The song “I Gave You All” by Mumford and Sons
illustrates that point to me when they say “How can you say that your truth is
greater than ours.”

So simple. So
poignant. And so very true.Our truth is
based on our experiences, the life we have lived, and what we have seen.And somehow we make the leap that our truth
is the same as those around us and when it is not we can negate the experiences
of others because our own journey is different than theirs.It seems to be part of the American Way to
believe someone is right and someone is wrong – concretely right or wrong.Frequently with no room for variations – we
see shades of gray (or as I like to see it, shades of beautiful colors) as somehow
wrong.We discount things, and worse
yet, people, because they don’t meet some arbitrary criteria we established.

I was recently
walking the halls of a hospital with a loved one.There was a young man on the floor who had
been there for a number of weeks.Ryan
has some developmental disabilities, as well as, some mental health
issues.He was a delightful young man,
with the kindest soul.He made friends
with everyone (including me) and talked about his dreams and aspirations.During the course of my visit one night he
made a really astute observation about his roommate and no one listened to him
– including me.About 20 minutes later
an event occurred that showed how astute he was – he saw what we had all missed.I was once again reminded of my own stereotypes and assumptions,
reminded to not write someone off because they were different than me, but to
listen more closely, to really hear from others.

People all around
us have profound gifts, the more we recognize that, the richer our lives can
be.The more we see that people all
around us are having experiences that are just as profound as ours.That though they may have lived life
differently, their experiences are just as valid as ours.Their truth is just as real, just as poignant
even if it is different than our own. Shades
of color that, when we pay attention, can help us so much more clearly
understand the wonders, issues, and complexities of life.We can see more.We can see further.

I work with
families on a daily basis that are discounted or ignored.Their truth, based on their very real and
valid experiences, is different than many of ours.Yet smart, profound and telling – a different
shade of color that helps us more clearly see the issues, so we can more
appropriately look for solutions.Imagine what the world would be like if we embraced the idea of the word
“sonder” – that we saw the benefit of those very real and different experiences
of those walking around us – think of the problems we could solve if we could
see it more completely.Think of how
much more rich the picture becomes when we add beautiful hues of color and
design!

Friday, August 15, 2014

I was walking through our Franklin County office.It had been an incredibly busy week and I was
taking a moment to visit staff and programs – to reclaim why I do this
work.Becky, from our Work Ready program
motioned me in to look at the beautiful canned tomatoes that the families in
her program had made with the help of Virginia, a Circle Leader who is gifted
in canning and making the most of what you have.As we talked, Jennifer, one of the Work Ready
participants, chimed in telling me how she was part of the glean that happened
earlier in the week (the first glean in Franklin County!).

Gleaning is such a brilliant concept.It allows farmers and producers to contact
SCCAP when they have excess produce that they don’t want to go to waste.Our Gleaning Coordinators then bring a group
of volunteers out to the farm to pick the produce which is then distributed to
low income families in the community.SCCAP has administered this program in Adams County for just over a year
and has brought in more than 130,000 pounds of produce.Last month, with help from a grant from the Summit
Health Endowment, we were able to spread this successful program to Franklin
County.Jennifer and her two children,
age 16 and 7, came out to volunteer to be part of the first glean.The group brought in nearly two thousand
pounds of fresh corn.Jennifer was so
excited.She said that she and her
children loved the experience and can’t wait to participate again.

We make assumptions about families who are struggling in
poverty.We assume they are lazy, that
they are waiting on someone else to help them out, or that they are taking
advantage of the system.My experiences
are so different than the stereotypes.Virginia, a family in our Circles initiative volunteered her time to
come into Work Ready to teach families how to can and preserve produce.Jennifer and her children volunteered to go
pick corn so that other families could have access to fresh produce.Both joyously giving back to their community.We see this all the time!

Families are not broken or deficient – they are just like
you or I except they may have some additional barriers to overcome.They may have had children early or be a
single parent.They may be dealing with
mental health issues.They may have not
had the opportunity to go to college so they are trapped in a low wage job
structure.And frequently their parents
were living in poverty as well, reducing the opportunities that existed for the
family.But they are not broken or
deficient.Many families can budget
better than I can.And when provided
some time and space, they create amazing plans to build resources to help them
move toward stability.They are
committed and driven but need guidance and opportunity.And amidst all of the hard work, they give
back frequently in ways the general public frequently does not see.

Cara, who works 60 – 70 hours per week to meet her financial
needs, takes time weekly to volunteer at Circles serving as a mentor to other
families or assisting with child care.Roberta and Bobby are working to become facilitators of Money Skills the
program they feel helped them learn how to change their values and thinking
about managing their money.Marci,
Nereida and Adrienne are serving as allies for families in Circles, giving back
to other families in a program that helped them.Virginia will assist The Gleaning Project (www.thegleaningproject.org ) by
teaching others how to can.Camille
teaches couponing and how to save money on things families need.Jennifer and her children are examples of the
many families who volunteer to help provide resources to help others.Families helping other families!Families, who while fighting against the odds
themselves, are incredibly vested in being part of the solution to help
buildan effective path out of poverty!Please join us in this important work - www.sccap.org